Thursday, July 12, 2012

the beginning


“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you” –Aldous Huxley

Hey, so for those of you who don't know, sometime towards the end of the school year of 2011-2012 I received an opportunity to apply for the AFS Speedwell Scholarship for a foreign exchange program in Spain. As you can probably guess from the reason I am writing this blog... I did apply and I got it! I received the exciting news while I was managing at my school’s boy’s lacrosse game. I think the best reaction to the news-- that basically describes the way everyone felt at the moment-- was my best friend Chelsey’s reaction. Since she was at the lacrosse game with me she was the first to know. The moment I hung up the phone I sprinted over to her, grabbed her hands, and started a little jump dance while chanting that I got the scholarship.  Being my best friend and all, she automatically joined me in my celebratory happy dance until it struck her… I was leaving. She abruptly stopped jumping, leaving me awkwardly jumping alone until I noticed her gapping expression. “YOU’RE LEAVING ME?!” Her reaction was the definition of priceless.  And as amusing as it was, it made sense: everyone was happy about the wonderful opportunity I was given, but no one truly wanted me to leave (well maybe a few). One moment some unknown number is calling me and the next thing I know I am making one of the biggest decisions of my life: to stay or not to stay? (that is the question) So my answer by now should be obvious: I’m going.  It is one of those things you know if you pass up you will regret it for the rest of your life knowing you gave up too soon. Yes, I am scared and yea, I am going to miss everyone so much, but no, I cannot risk spending the rest of my life thinking about all the “what if I had gone” questions. So after doing a little soul searching (and googling) I decided that: I, Lexy Rhoden, am heading to Spain on September 6th.  And here is where you can follow (in a totally not creepy sort of way) me on my adventure: from the hard goodbyes to the welcome back hugs.



If you want, check out AFS at: http://www.afs.org/about/about-afs/


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